You guys, I only want the best for you. So when I sat down to write this exhaustive, encyclopedic, meticulously researched, comprehensive (and humble) guide to hitting the town, it was with the notion that in Halifax, although the myth of the most bars per-capita remains unconfirmed (and I remain skeptical), there is most certainly […]
Michaela Cavanagh
Posted inArts + Music
Triple play
If you’ve always wanted to start a band but you don’t know how to play an instrument, or, if you have an unused vacuum collecting dust in your closet (is that irony?), then take a page from the book of Benoît Charest. Charest is the composer behind the music of Les Triplettes de Belleville, an […]
Posted inArts + Music
Triple play
If you’ve always wanted to start a band but you don’t know how to play an instrument, or, if you have an unused vacuum collecting dust in your closet (is that irony?), then take a page from the book of Benoît Charest. Charest is the composer behind the music of Les Triplettes de Belleville, an […]
Posted inArts + Music
Alex Cuba
Alex Cuba (AKA Alexis Puentes) moved to Canada for love, but so far, the sentiment is unrequited. “It’s not a secret that there is no market for Latin music in Canada. Anything I do will be considered world music, but world music has a very small-minded way of thinking about music,” says the Smithers, BC-based […]
Posted inArts + Music
Zulkamoon
“What’s on the horizon for us? Well, we’re coming out with our own coffee—we’re gonna be selling it as merch,” says Mike Nahirnak, one of the guitarists behind Zulkamoon’s “folk, rock, blues, jazz, reggae, ska, cumbia, you name it, it’s in there” sound. Inti Gonzalez, Mexico City transplant, the other guitarist and the nucleus around […]
Posted inArts + Music
Gypsophilia
Keep your eyes peeled for Gypsophilia this summer. Identifying features, you ask? Well, what do seven people lugging around at least as many hefty instrument cases getting on a Greyhound bus look like? If Ross Burns is to be believed, probably like they’re having a lot of fun. Burns and six of his best pals […]
Posted inArts + Music
Ship to shore
NSCAD’s original name and its affinity for Queen Victoria aren’t the only things imported from across the pond. Carly Butler, a Halifax-based artist and one of the organizers of the Khyber’s Abandon Ship! Fine Art Showcase, started her studies at Central Saint Martins in London before transferring to NSCAD. She says that although the education […]
Posted inArts + Music
Lee Ranaldo and Leah Singer’s Contre band
Lee Ranaldo hopes to create poetry with his guitar. This is nothing new for the former guitarist for one of the coolest rock bands in the history of rock bands—that is, Sonic Youth—but don’t expect Kim Gordon or Thurston Moore to come around. Ranaldo has been an artist before Sonic Youth was a twinkle in […]
Posted inArts + Music
Eyelevel’s hive of activity
Andrew McLaren is hoping to find things he’s forgotten. The printed matter artist will be getting his hands dirty next over the next six weeks as he delves into the archives of Eyelevel Gallery in the name of commemorating its four decades and near-constant mutations for his Re:PRINT Archival Printed Matter Residency. McLaren will create […]
Posted inArts + Music
Get schooled
There are a lot of ways to learn about art in this city. Home to the oldest art school in Canada, dozens of galleries large and small, art battles, art festivals, art camps, and a myriad of helpful Kijiji ads offering painting lessons, now Halifax is home to one more forum for layperson learning about […]
Posted inArts + Music
New Music 2013
Bricks Following up December’s self-titled demo, Halifax/Newfoundland noise-punk band Bricks has been working on a new split-tape with local d-beat pals, Sleight. Anticipating the release this summer, Bricks will also hit Montreal and Ottawa with its raw hardcore like a sushi special. “One of our best shows so far was total chaos in a six-foot […]
Posted inArts + Music
Get your Goatwhore
“People like to put things in categories,” says Ben Falgoust. “We call it extreme metal, but there are so many different variations. We’re taking a lot of different elements and blending them together.” Falgoust makes up one-fourth of Goatwhore along with Zack Simmons, James Harvey and Sammy Duet. Coming out of New Orleans, Goatwhore has […]